Rocket Racing – the kart-racer mode available to play in Fortnite – is being permanently removed from the game in the upcoming update on Thursday, 1st October, 2026, due to a lack of players.
The mode was introduced two years ago alongside Fortnite Festival and some of the LEGO Fortnite modes as Epic Games tried to branch out the Fortnite brand into a bunch of different genres.
In the case of Fortnite Festival and LEGO Fortnite, it has been broadly successful. Festival – Fortnite’s rhythm game – brings with it a seasonal collab with a major artist that gives the game mode enough players to continue to support, while LEGO Fortnite has settled into a happy slot with lots of classic Fortnite and crossover skins getting blocky variations.
Source: Epic Games
Rocket Racing hasn’t taken off in the same way, though, as Epic Games has cited low player counts as to why they’re shutting the mode down. It’s as-yet unclear if there will be any new purpose for the car cosmetics that the mode introduced, though it is worth mentioning that most of them can be used in the main battle royale mode or in Rocket League.
Rocket Racing is just the latest game mode to be cut in 2026. In April this year, the Battle Stage from Fortnite Festival was cut due to lack of interest, and the same goes for Fortnite Ballistic, which was Epic’s attempt to give Fortnite a first-person team-based shooter like Counter-Strike.
After a big push to branch out the Fortnite brand into many different genres, it appears Epic Games is now walking back that idea after several failed projects, and is instead focusing on the main modes that make the game a success.